We can manage our thinking process: we can accept the positive thoughts from the world and we can support our own positive thinking on life – people, tasks, experiences. Humans alone can have this conscious attitude, to choose what to think of and how – positively or negatively. In the exercise we perform thinking by staying in one place while the arms make very slow movements; next, the attitude to life is like attitude to its symbol, water on Earth, and we make a scooping gesture; last, the effort to sustain good thoughts is performed with a movement to support something. Some examples:

for life: I have a positive mental attitude;

for people: I think of the good in them;

for my tasks: I think that I can cope with them;

for difficult circumstances: I think that everything will turn to good.

“This exercise begins with the slow movement of the arms from the right to the left and then back to the right. Then, while walking forwards, scooping motions are made with the hands, followed by the arms pushing outwards as if supporting something. This movement connects us with the world of thought and we enter it. Through this movement, a rhythm is brought to our organism that comes from the sentient world, the world of just and noble thought. The first part of the exercise, with the slow movement of the arms from the right to the left and back again, is the receiving of that which is sent from the world of thought. The second part is the imparting of that which we receive into our lives and activities. [Beinsa Douno, Paneurhythmy, p.79]

QUESTIONS

1.Text: How many times do the words “think” and “thoughts” repeat? Write your own “sacred thought” about life. Finish up the sentence “Life is…”.

2.Drawing: Draw an illustration to the exercise. Considering Roden’s stature The Thinker, make your own project for the thinking person statue.

3.Questions: How can you control a negative thought? Do thoughts influence our feelings and why?

4.Experience: Tell us of situation and experiences when you have managed to think positively irrespective of the circumstances. What is the feeling?

5.Imagination: Imagine, while you play the exercise: 1. that your arms are like two antennas that catch all good thoughts from the environment. 2. that your hands scoop water from the “sea of life”. 3. that you support a wall (your thoughts) stay upright.

6.Affirmation: Write your own positive affirmation for thinking. For example: I can think well. I have positive mental attitude.

7.Quotes: I think, therefore I am (René Descartes). What we think, we become (Buddha). The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory (Paul Fix). Find your own favourite quite on Think.

Arms:The right arm is upwards to the right side at 45 degrees. The left arm is bent in the elbow, the forearm is parallel to the right arm. The arms and forearms are stretched with hands upwards to the sides, palms down.

Arms go down by the sides of the body. Legs go together in standing position.

IN PLACE

SP= SP for the exercise

1:

Arms: Arms, parallel to one another and stretched, outline descending semicircles close to the body and rise up to the left side in a position symmetrical to the SP: the left arm upwards to the left side at 45 degrees, while the right arm is bent in the elbow, its forearm parallel to the left arm. The body and the head remain facing forwards.

Legs: Feet are together in standing position.

Text: „Think right”.

Duration: 1 measure 3/4

2.

Arms: Arms retrace their way to the right, to SP, moving at two times slower speed.

Legs: Feet are together in standing position.

Text: „Always think right.”

Duration: 2 measures 3/4

Movements 1 and 2 repeat.

FP: At the end we take SP for “Scooping"

SCOOPING

SP:

Arms:Arms are bent in the elbows, forearms horizontal in front of the body in a sort of triangle. Hands are close to one another at the level of the solar plexus, palms up, fingers bent.

Legs:Feet are together in standing position.

1:

Arms: Both hands make two symmetrical scooping gestures in front of the solar plexus with circular movements of the forearms: at first the hands move down, in semicircles, as if tracking the surface of a virtual sphere, next the hands move upwards as if parallel to the sphere’s axes. During the whole movement palms are up, fingers together and slightly bent.

Duration:3 beats from measure 9/8 or 12/8

Legs: step forward

The movement repeats 6 or 7 times with consecutive step: in a series of 6+7+6+7 after the “In Place” cycle, starting with right foot. Performed as 7 repetitions after the “Supporting” cycle, starting with left foot.

Text: "Sustain most sacred thoughts of life that radiate light".

FP: At the end we take SP for “Supporting” or SP for “In place”.

SUPPORTING

SP:

Arms:Arms are to the sides with elbows slightly bent down and palms out, vertically up

Legs:The right foot is ready to step.

1:

Arms: Arms extend horizontally to the sides with a slight energetic push in the elbows and wrists, palms vertically up and perpendicular to the forearms, as if they support something. Next the elbows fold a little to return to SP.